Max Verstappen and his father Jos sat down to dinner last night in Dubai with a lot to think about.
The couple flew to the land of the skyscraper from Bahrain en route, in Max’s case, to Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the next installment of Formula One’s hottest soap opera, a blockbuster that refuses to die. .
At the center of the plot is Christian Horner, the Red Bull team manager who sent suggestive text messages to a colleague. Verstappen Sr. wants the 50-year-old Englishman to leave, as he expressed it in public yesterday for the first time in these pages.
He stridently declared that the team, which is riding high on the success of 13 world championships in its 19-year colorful existence, would “explode” unless Horner moved on. He accused him of playing the victim.
Now, it doesn’t take a genius to see the possible implications of a dispute about the city not being big enough for the two of them. That’s where Max comes in, 26 years old, and the best driver of his time, and possibly any era.
Embattled Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was accompanied by his wife Geri in Bahrain.
Jos Verstappen (right) claims Red Bull will “explode” if Horner remains as team principal
This raises questions about the future of Max Verstappen, who won in Bahrain.
While Horner defiantly clings to his £8 million-a-year job, Max is Jos’ trump card in this high-stakes game. No team on the planet would want to lose the services of a driver who gilts even the peerless car designed by the supreme designer in Formula One history, Adrian Newey.
Yes, perhaps several drivers currently on the grid could win a world championship, but none could dominate as easily or emphatically as the Dutch wizard. Who else could have won all but three races last season? Or add an unprecedented 10 consecutive victories? Or sharpen your elbows to razors in the heat of battle whenever necessary?
Arguably not even Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion. For now, and for the foreseeable future, Max is the best there is.
So Jos, a former teammate of Michael Schumacher at Benetton, with whom the Verstappens spent their holidays when Max was a child, has a powerful negotiating tool.
But, and here is the fascinating conundrum, what happens if Jos is not awarded Horner’s head on a platter? Would Max look for another job elsewhere? Speculation has already linked him to Mercedes. Hamilton will leave at the end of the year to join Ferrari for one last hurrah, opening up a seat there.
Adding to the rumors is the fact that Jos had dinner with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff last week in Bahrain before the opening race. It could have simply been a meeting of old friends, as Jos claims, although, it must be stressed, his relationship with Wolff soured in 2021, when Max was in hospital while Hamilton celebrated victory at the British Grand Prix after meeting in Copse.
The situation deteriorated further after the decisive match in Abu Dhabi, where Verstappen overtook his bitter title rival on the final lap after the maverick safety car withdrawal on a night that will never be forgotten.
Mercedes’ Toto Wolff has stirred the pot since the scandal broke and called for transparency
Although relations have improved a lot since two years ago, it is difficult to completely dislocate a Jos-Toto dinner from the furor developing at Red Bull, even if the prospect of Max leaving his racing home (so far a good example oiled to near-perfection: seizing his chances at a Mercedes team well below its once-dominant peak are for now somewhat remote. To underline this point, when Max won in Bahrain on Saturday, Mercedes’ George Russell was 47 seconds behind and Hamilton was 47 seconds behind. fifty.
At the moment, moving to the Silver Arrows would seem foolish, and one that could only be welcomed with anger. It is the nuclear option.
There is also Max’s contract with Red Bull which runs until 2028, although it is suggested that there are termination clauses that could allow a move in 2026.
Verstappen Sr., who turns 52 today, will not be in Jeddah this week, but will instead return to Belgium for a rally; His absence from the Formula One paddock will no doubt come as a relief to him after the tense season in Bahrain, when the Red Bull hospitality unit was a seething theater of false camaraderie. The warring factions looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. That could be because if they turned their back they wouldn’t see the daggers coming.
The most extravagant show of support came from Horner’s Spice Girl wife Geri. She walked with him to the meadow. They held hands and kissed. The celebrity couple is comforted by the belief that, unless new evidence or a leaked email emerges that reveals a new line of complaint, Horner is relatively safe.
Horner and his wife Geri (left) put on a public show of unity despite their texting scandal.
Horner refuses to comment on the possible motives of those responsible for the leak of texts
One hope for Jos, while he wanted Horner gone, was that the owners of the sport, Liberty Media disguised as Formula One Management (FOM), and the regulators, the FIA, would step in and investigate the claims themselves, or at least ask to see The report. internal report by a KC on behalf of Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, which exonerated him last week. This seems unlikely to happen. The FIA, under chairman Mohammad Ben Sulayem, is quietly siding with Horner. The FOM maintain a silence that borders on public invisibility.
Max’s opinions are not explicitly known. He is believed to generally support his father’s position. Tellingly, he refused on four occasions at press conferences last weekend to offer Horner unconditional support.
He simply explained that he thought that in terms of performance, his boss did an outstanding job. There was a faint whiff of praise for his approval.
Red Bull issued a statement last night in response to Jos’ comments on Mail Sport, saying: “There are no problems here. The team is united and we are focused on racing.”
Which, even by latter-day standards, requires some faith.